Black Cake

---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05

Title: Black Cake
Categories: Cakes, Fruits
Yield: 24 Servings

1 lb Raisins; minced
1 lb Prunes, pitted; minced
1 lb Currants, dried; minced
1 lb Cherries, glaced; minced
6 oz Lemon peel, glaced; minced
6 oz Orange peel, glaced; minced
3/4 l Passover wine
-(Manischewitz is good)
3/4 l Rum, dark
2 lb Sugar, dark brown
4 1/4 c Flour, cake
4 ts Baking powder
1/2 ts Nutmeg, grated
1/2 ts Cinnamon
2 c Butter, sweet; softened
10 lg Egg
1 tb Vanilla
1 1/2 c Almond paste; if desired

-----------------------------------ICING-----------------------------------
2 lb Sugar, confectioners; sifted
6 lg Egg white; room temp
2 tb Lemon juice
Drages; for decoration

In a large bowl, mix all the fruits thoroughly with the wine and the rum;
let the fruit macerate, covered, at room temperature for at least two
weeks. In a heavy skillet combine one pound of the brown sugar and 1 cup
water. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, stirring until the sugar is
dissolved, and gently boil the syrup, swirling the skillet occasionally,
for a few minutes, or until it is reduced to 1 3/4 cups. Let the syrup
cool; reserve. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg together
into a bowl. In the large bowl of an electric mixer cream together the
remaining brown sugar and the butter until it is fluffy; then beat in the
eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla,
the flour mixture, and 1 1/3 cups of the burnt sugar syrup, reserving the
remaining syrup for another use. In another large bowl, combine well the
flour mixture and the fruit mixture and divide the batter between two
buttered and floured 10" springform pans. Bake the cakes in the middle of a
preheated 350 F. oven for two hours, or until a toothpick inserted in the
centers comes out with some crumbs adhering to it. (The centers of these
cakes will be quite moist.) Let the cakes cool in the pans on a rack,
remove the sides and bottoms of the pans, and wrap the cakes in foil or wax
paper. Let the cakes stand at room temperature for a week. Roll out half
the almond paste between sheets of plastic wrap to form a 10" round and
remove the top sheet of plastic wrap. Fit the almond paste layer over one
cake, trimming the edge if necessary, and remove the other sheet of plastic
wrap. Roll out and fit the remaining almond paste onto the remaining cake
in the same manner. ICING: Using an electric mixer, beat 4 cups of the
confectioners' sugar with the egg whites and lemon juice until the mixture
will hold a soft peak. Beat in the remaining sugar, and beat the icing
until it will hold a stiff peak. Transfer two cups of the icing to a pastry
bag fitted with a decorative tip, spread the remaining icing on the tops
and sides of the cakes with a long metal spatula, and pipe the icing in the
pastry bag decoratively onto the cakes. Arrange the drages on the cakes.
Makes two cakes.

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